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Month: September 2017

This small coin purse is made from a hand woven silk fabric called Gujo ori, a traditional Japanese folk art.

Gujo, in current Gifu prefecture, was influenced and enriched by interaction and exchange with the capital even during the Nara era, and developed its own unique folk art and culture.

Gujo tsumugi ori is one well known example of its folk arts. Using silk floss extracted from the double cocoons of spring silkworms, fibers are spun by hand to create tsumugi yarn. It is then hand dyed with organic materials such as herb roots and tree bark, and finally woven by hand.

Designs are mostly stripes, crossed stripes, splash patterns (Kasuri) and some geometrical patterns. It has qualities of both silk and wool: strong, warm and free from wrinkles.

In 1947 the Gujo Weaving Institute was founded by Rikizo Munehiro in an effort to preserve the traditional craft. In 1982 he was awarded the title of Living National Treasure.